If there’s one subject we don’t shy away from at HuffPost UK, it’s poop.
We’ve covered the unorthodox sounds that can help your bowel movements pass faster. We’ve revealed the best non-squatting positions to sit in during your morning ritual.
We’ve even shared the ideal amount you should go number two daily.
But even I hadn’t heard of “splinting”, the very hands-on constipation cure, before ― despite its virality.
What does it involve?
“Splinting” can help to move very stubborn stool out of the anal canal of people with vaginas.
It went viral on TikTok in 2021 thanks to a now-deleted video.
The process works by placing a lubricated, gloved finger into your vagina and then pressing against the wall between the vagina and the perineum or rectum.
This manually helps to evacuate stubborn stool and may be especially effective if you have a rectocele (a pelvic floor injury commonly caused by childbirth).
Speaking to the University of Michigan Medicine, Dr Pamela Fairchild, an obstetric gynaecologist at Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital and co-director of the Michigan Bowel Control Program, said that it can help unsuspecting people to realise they have a rectocele.
“If your stool is soft and formed, but still difficult to pass and you feel the bulge in the vagina when you try to poop, you may have a rectocele complicating your stool passage,” she said.
A rectocele is a type of prolapse where the wall between the vagina and rectum bulges into the vagina.
However, the University of Michigan says that while a rectocele is a common reason “splinting” may work for some, they add that “just because you are able to splint to help with bowel movements doesn’t mean you have a rectocele”.
It can also reveal a non-relaxing, hypertonic pelvic floor, they say.
What does it mean if splinting helps you poop?
While Dr Fairchild says splinting is “safe to practice, unless you have broken skin or an irritation that make it painful to push on the vagina or perineal area,” Dr Shree Datta (a gynaecologist for intimate wellbeing brand INTIMINA) told Metro it’s at best a “sticking plaster”.
Splinting “can be useful if you feel that you have not completely emptied your rectum after a bowel movement,” Dr Datta says, as “Constipation can cause vaginal wall weakness and prolapse – specifically a rectocele – as can being overweight or having a long-standing cough.”
But she adds it’s only a “short-term solution”.
Addressing the causes of your constipation (like low fibre, inadequate hydration, a lack of exercise, and ignoring your urge to go to the loo) is a more sustainable approach. And if you’ve got chronic and/or severe constipaton, see your GP.
After all, Dr Datta says that splinting “may otherwise make the pelvic floor and vaginal wall muscles weaker in the longterm”.